The History of~World War 2 (Part 2: The Axis Advances)
As we left off from our last page (just click here) we talked about what events led up to the second World War. Now, the war has begun and the Axis alliance (namely Nazi Germany and the Japanese Empire) are the first to gain the initiative. This is Part 2 of my 7 part series of The History of World War 2: The Axis Advances. In Europe Nazi Germany has already built up a sizable military (eventhough this went against the Treaty of Versailles) and even has joined up with Austria. Hitler is now ready for his second phase of his plan for the continent of Europe, he begins by invading Europe on September 1, 1939. To the contrary to popular media. The Nazi army wasn't fully mechanized, most of the land forces that invaded Poland actually used Horse driven wagons as well as railroads for their invasion, and the Luftwaffe (Air Force) helped out as well. Fearing an all out attack, Stalin ordered is forces to invade what was left of Poland, because of this. Somewhat of an agreement was made between Germany and the USSR, and it was that the Nazis would not attack the USSR. Though, this agreement would not last long. The Blitzkrieg By the time 1940 came around, Hitler was planning his ultimate initiative which he himself would call "Blitzkrieg" (Lightning War). In May of 1940, the Nazis invaded Denmark and Norway before invading other western European countries such as The Netherlands and Belgium, all within a matter of days. They eventually reach the French Low Countries and to the Maginot Line. But the Nazis broke through the line's weak point in the thick forested area called the Ardennes, and with this, the Nazis defeated the French army and the Nazis waltzed into Paris. There the French were forced to sign an armistice with Nazi Germany. From there, what was left of the French army as well as some British forces in France fell back to a port town called Dunkirk, where new British Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered for these men to be rescued, this was called Operation Dynamo. For over a week, the surviving British and French forces waited to be rescued while under ferocious enemy fire. In the end, over 400,000 British and French soldiers were able to evacuate. Even civilian boat owners helped these soldiers. The Battle of Britain But the Nazis were not yet done. There was one more obstacle that needed to be cleared in order for them to achieve absolute victory over Europe: Great Britain. Britain's survival is hanging by a slim thread, the British knew that they must make not just Britain's but Europe's last stand. The Luftwaffe first targeted Britain's ports and RAF bases to slow down (if not stop) the RAF's response by July of 1940. Just a few weeks later, the Luftwaffe then turned it's aggression to Britain's major cities. For the next several months, the RAF and the Luftwaffe slugged it out in the skies over Britain. In the end, the British were able to fend off the Luftwaffe as they lose 1800 of their 2500 air units used in the battle. So initially, the Battle of Britain was the first defeat Nazi Germany has suffered. The Blitz Unfortunately, the RAF wouldn't stop the Luftwaffe from bombing Britain's major cities. This would be known as "The Blitz" (Britain's own abbreviation of the Blitzkrieg). When the RAF shot down too many of the Nazi Bombers during the day. The Luftwaffe decided to wait until night time to bomb Britain into submission. This would last several months after the initial Battle of Britain was over. Though it did quite a bit of damage, but it failed in it's initial objective which is to bring Britain to submit to Nazi supremacy (also due to American aid in 1941). The Nazis also decided to prepare for an invasion of the USSR by 1941. The Pacific Technically, the Japanese began World War 2 by invading Beijing in 1937 (during the Chinese Civil War) which began the Second Sino-Japanese War (putting the Chinese Civil War on hold). By 1940, the Japanese got even more aggressive as they took more Chinese cities such as Shanghai and even the European port towns of Hong Kong, Canton and Macau. As the Nazi Blitzkrieg in Europe conquered France, it's colony: French Indochina fell under Japanese aggression. Because of this as well as their aggression in the Pacific, the USA stepped in and stopped all Japanese assets, and even imposed an oil embargo. Japan didn't like this one bit, and this is when Japan began to make up plans to get the USA involved in the war. Japan knew as they were planning an attack on the USA that their military power would pale in comparison to the USA's and *if* Japan would launch an all-out attack on the USA, they would lose. They knew that the USA had a Naval Base in the American Territory of Hawaii known as Pearl Harbor. They decide to launch a surprise attack on the Naval base in hopes to level the playing field in the Pacific. Even as they attacked Pearl Harbor, Japan would continue to expand their territory deep to the South Pacific, taking not just native countries, but also western colonies such as the Phillipines (an American territory) and the islands of Indonesia, (some of which were owned by the British). But, what Japan wouls soon realize that their attack on Pearl Harbor would soon change Japan's fortune. Next part will talk about the USA (just click here) and how it was leading up to it's involvment in World War 2. Don't forget to check out my Games and Movies wikis. Until next time, this is JohnnyOTGS signing out.